While we were still in Lincoln, we had snow! It’s really quite pretty… especially when your son-in-law does all the shoveling!

Cute Grandkids playing in the snow:

The rule is you have to wait at least 12 hours after Thanksgiving dinner before you put up your Christmas decorations. Or maybe I made that up. Whatever… Friday morning we got to watch the Kids and Grandkids decorate for Christmas! Very cool! Peter has a collection of the paper glasses you wear when looking at Christmas lights, that turns pinpoint lights into cool patterns. I like this one in front of the lens to jazz up the Christmas tree.

One evening we had the pleasure of doing another Escape Room with the family. So much fun! We are apparently so clever that we finished the room in like 24 minutes!

After our miraculous early escape from the Jabberwocky room, we had deserved a donut from Hurts Donuts, in downtown Lincoln. In the Grand Manse building, it is an interesting place with all sorts of unique and cleverly named donuts. More fun!

We watched as the guy litterally squirted donuts from a machine into the hot oil. He would fill that vat in seconds, then turn them, and remove them, and start again.

Here’s a very short clip of him – “Squirt’n Donuts.”

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Then it was time to head “home.” Since home is where we left the motorhome, that means Tucson this time. I know it’s crazy to take pictures of lights from an airliner, but it was so pretty I couldn’t resist. A fun shot of the tower at Denver International is on the right.

And pretty sunsets happen often at our site in Tucson.

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Back at the Tucson Auto Museum…

My favorite that I’m featuring this week is this beautiful 1937 Packard. This beautiful V-12 Formal Sedan was bought new by Jack Benny. I’m going to quote a bit from a Hemmings article about this very car:

It is often said that Jack Benny, the man, was the polar opposite of Jack Benny, the character that appeared on the eponymous radio show. On the radio, the character of Jack Benny was legendarily skinflint, selfish and self-aggrandizing, while the private Jack Benny was modest and generous (giving other actors good lines so that the show could benefit and mellowing the racist overtones toward his popular manservant character Rochester in the post-war era are but two examples).

This harmony of opposites held true even in such obscure details as his choice of cars. In his radio and TV programs, the character Jack Benny drove a Maxwell that was always on its last legs, but which Benny always swore would last a few more miles. The Maxwell represented Benny’s cheap nature: Even in the 1930s, a 15-year-old car was a thing of wonder, but long since technologically superseded by even the cheapest new models. It was the equivalent of driving a De Soto or Studebaker in the early 1980s, or an AMC today.

But in his private life, particularly in the 1930s, at the height of his powers in the radio field, Jack Benny was a Packard man. The luxury marque was befitting a man of Benny’s status. And late in 1936, he took delivery of our feature car, a Fifteenth Series Packard Twelve Model 1507.

Some sources say Mr. Benny had this Packard for twelve years, and then traded it in on a new 1949 Buick. That’s hearsay, and a bit hard to believe. The Buick was a nice car, but not in the same league as a Packard. But then again, it would have been a 12 year old car, and maybe he didn’t want to look like his show-biz persona!

In the 1930’s luxury car market in America, possibly the very top end was dominated by the 3 P’s… Packard, Pierce-Arrow, and Peerless. This magnificent twelve cylinder car was right up there. The detailing is magnificent.

So I’m going to just show you lots of little angles and special spots. (Especially since I can’t pull the car out for a shot of the whole side.)

A spare tire on each side wasn’t just a luxury show-off piece… folks used to get flat tires far more often than we do today!

It’s easy to recognize a Packard by its grille. Instead of a constant curve across the top of the radiator, there is another curve added on top of it, making this unique pattern.

I was excited to see that same Packard shape on the folding luggage rack at the rear!

Behind those elegant door handles is a very sumptuous interior. Notice the glass partition behind the front seat, to allow yourself some privacy if you had your chauffeur driving.

…There’s just one jump seat in the back, “so the maid could ride along when Mary Livingston [Jack Benny’s wife and partner-in-mirth] went shopping.” Conventions of the day forbade the hired help from riding shotgun.

Many cars designed to be driven by a chauffeur have relatively spartan driver’s furnishings. This Packard has the same upholstery in the front as in the rear. I’m guessing the owners drove these cars often.

Here’s Mr. Benny with this beautiful Packard.